Tag: hassles

Introduce yourself with you rates and terms backed up with your certification and training. If being offered an assignment , ask for acknowledgement and acceptance in writing of your rates and terms Add a dose of manners by offering to answer any questions they may have.

Stress Buster : Develop a couple of templates of polite responses for when unacceptably low rates are offered. Save them in your drafts and you will avoid the irritation felt when writing a new one every time.

2 Skip the embarrassment of being taken advantage of.

Research the market and match your experience and qualifications for equal ranking of pay.

Skip the stress of hearing that the prospective client that wants you won’t pay what you’re worth.

Look up their website and see how they promote themselves to the market If they claim to have the lowest rates then how do you think they make a profit.

Inquire from colleagues on professional forums, on both Linked In and Face Book , what kind of an experience anyone has had with said a client. Share your experience in return.

Skip the stress of a job with terminology and procedures that stump you.

Don’t accept an assignment you have never done before until you have observed the interpreted proceeding in person or reviewed a few source and target translations of the same subject matter. Do this until you are comfortable that you can perform quality work.

Skip the stress of hassles caused by a client uneducated in your work.

Look for the red flags waving: when translator and interpreter is used interchangeably, when your availability is asked without identification of the proceeding, whenever a translation has no word count or deadline… And my favorite when you are asked to be at a location over 100 miles away in a half an hour. Decide the value of your time required in “babysitting” this kind of client.

Skip the embarrassment of being labeled as unqualified and unprofessional.

Research the market and match your experience and qualifications for equal ranking of pay.

Skip the stress of payment disputes.

Send your rates and terms ( learn what these are) in writing and ask for acknowledgement and acceptance in writing. Add a dose of manners by offering to answer any questions they may have.

Inquire from colleagues on professional forums, on both Linked In and Face Book , what kind of an experience anyone has had with said a client. Share your experience in return.

Assess the client agency by their reputation among their employees and contractors. Listen and weigh both the accolades and the complaints. Complaints reflect poor management and instability and that leads to non-payment of freelancer’s invoices .